Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture provides agroforestry outreach in Haiti

7/26/2017

Torn blue tarps serving as the makeshift roof of a cinderblock church gently flapped in the wind as representatives from SFA’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture asked questions of a predominantly male group of subsistence farmers through an interpreter. Those in attendance are residents of Merger, Haiti, a small village located outside of the country's capital of Port-au-Prince, who struggle to produce food in the dry, rocky and erosion-prone soil surrounding the community.

That initial meeting, arranged by One Foot Raised, a nonprofit organization founded by SFA alumni, marked the beginning of a week defined by early mornings, late nights, research, brainstorming sessions, and the initiation of long-term agroforestry and sustainable development projects that defy the study-abroad experience typically offered by universities.